Very well - here is what I have so far based on
my recollection of opinions from all Brisbanites (and one Brisbanite/Sydneysider wanderer).
Nothing here is final.
Friday 22 October
Pre-dinner drinks:
not decided - see discussion about drinks venues below
Dinner: Vapiano, Albert Lane, off Albert Street Mall
- Pros: Nice fresh Italian food, good prices all up, split bills are extremely easy
- Cons: They will absolutely not accept any reservations for any size for a Friday night. Other nights are alright, just not Friday
- Approximate Costs: $35 - $45 pp including entree, main and 1-2 drinks
Saturday 23 October
Day Activity:
not decided
For the day activity, some of the ideas broached included:
- Tour and lunch at Sirromet wines - waiting on response from Sirromet about this
- North Stradbroke Island
- Cruise of Moreton Bay or around - difficult to find one of these
- Chartered boat trip up and/or down the Brisbane River, possibly link in with a trip to the zoo
Lunch:
not decided
This will probably be on location depending on the day activity; with the exception of Sirromet, no pre-arrangements need to be made.
Pre-dinner drinks:
not decided
Dinner: Kabuki, Stamford Plaza Hotel, cnr Margaret & Edward Sts
Plan was to have a teppanyaki in the American entertainment sense - get a show by the skilled chefs and dinner at the same time.
I had a brief chat with the people at Kabuki:
- A maximum of 20 people can be accommodated at one teppanyaki table
- Everyone at a table would need to have the same set menu. I would imagine we can still elbow for accommodations for vegetarians
- I couldn't elbow a discount of sorts for anything (drinks, food, etc.)
Prices and range are given here:
http://www.stamford.com.au/asset.asp?IDA=803556 (PDF) and a vegetarian menu
http://www.stamford.com.au/asset.asp?IDA=803555 (PDF). Prices are start from $49.50 pp, not including drinks.
Possible post-dinner kick on ideas:
Fortitude Valley - for those who feel energetic enough. Limes Hotel (has a rooftop bar - see menus at
Limes Hotel / Roof Top Bar), The Bowery (gets
very crowded at times, but large coughtail selection - see all menus at
Drinks - The Bowery)...
Freestyle Tout - excellent desserts. Locations at West End (easy hop on the frequent 199 or CityGlider buses) and Emporium complex just outside Fortitude Valley (few hundred metres walk from CityGlider bus stop). I've been to the West End venue before - a bit small and if all 20+ from dinner come might need to make some arrangements. The West End menu is located at
http://www.freestyletout.com.au/sites/default/files/West End Full Menu June 2010.pdf.
Sunday 24 October - this is probably the only day where all options are fairly set
Day Activity: Golf -
"The AFF Challenge"
No agreement or forward has come about venue / golf course. The last game between those AFF members who were sober enough to take back the wood and iron was at Jindalee. Hopefully if that is chosen again, the course will not be as muddy.
Those who do
not want to play golf, caddy the players or spectate, are free to arrange other activities or sleep off as much of the hangover from the previous night.
Lunch: Breakfast Creek Hotel, Albion
Post Lunch: Brisbane Airport for farewells, QP etc.
Those are all the thoughts on program so far.
Other considerations...
Drinks Venues
To offer a software engineering parallel, here are three descriptors about drinks venues:
You can only select two of them - you can't have all three.
One concession is that seeing as its going to be Friday/Saturday evening, there probably isn't much hope that ambience will be moderately peaceful, but at least the venues that can be avoided are those where you can shout at 90dB and still not make yourself heard to the person 1m away.
Possible drinks venues that have been touted:
- Groove Train - King George Square (good ambience) or Eagle Street Pier (smaller). If I may say, this is my personal recommendation purely based on ambience (the open venue to the square allows the diffusion of much of the noise - should make communication easier)
- Jade Buddha - Eagle St Pier
- The Mill - Wickham Tce, Spring Hill
- Rydges Southbank - there are a couple of people here with big discounts at Rydges, however there was some crisis of conscience as to whether it was right just to turn up with ~20 people, order a lot of stuff and then slap on a huge discount... (they probably reserve the right to revoke and say the discount is being unfairly taken advantage of)
- Pig & Whistle at Eagle St Pier
- Broadway Bar - Eagle St Pier
- The Exchange Hotel - cnr Edward and Mary Sts. Has a roof top bar, but it's "closed in" (i.e. view is pretty non-descript).
- Jo Jos - Queen Street Mall
Drinks venues which have been demoted to 'will not go'
- Gilhooley's - cnr Albert and Charlotte Sts
- MJ's at the Holiday Inn - Roma St Transit Centre
- Regatta Hotel - Toowong
Other Dinner Venues
- Rydges Southbank. Again, some AFF members have exercisable discounts.
- The Ship Inn, Southbank. Nice, clean but nothing too exciting, but they do have a function room. Dinner available as alternate drop or buffet (but both require a minimum of 30 guests)
i will be moving to Sydney in September and I'm not sure what my finances and work situation will be like.
